DeRoyal News & Events

Feeling the Love

March 2, 2018

As we celebrate our 45 years of business, we wanted to find ways to give back and work with four charities throughout the year. Our first organization was The Love Kitchen and we had a blast…oh yeah, we did work too!

Speaking of celebrating many years in operation, this February 14th marks The Love Kitchen’s 32nd year of obediently serving our Knoxville community. In 1986, Helen and Ellen Turner, twin sisters, began the Love Kitchen and first served 22 people in a small church in east Knoxville. Today, the Love Kitchen has its own building about two blocks from where it started and serves over 3,000 meals each week with more than eighty percent of those meals being delivered to home bound recipients. Every Wednesday there is an in-house breakfast and emergency food bags filled with both canned and dry goods are distributed. Thursdays, an in-house lunch is served and volunteers deliver meals to the elderly, disabled, and home bound.

This past Thursday February 22nd, we had two groups of DeRoyal volunteers help to sort, package and prepare those 3,000 meals for delivery as well as serve until the afternoon. We were quick learners and jumped in fast actually finishing up our duties in record time! Or maybe that’s what The Love Kitchen folks tell everyone—either way it was a win win for everyone and a fulfilling way to serve our community.

Sadly the beloved remaining sister and co-founder of the Love Kitchen, Helen Ashe died at age 89, just a week earlier on February 13th, a day before their anniversary and the most celebrated day of love—maybe it's a touching sign to remind us each year of the power of love.

We wanted you to know about the love and generosity these two sisters and their volunteers have given freely to Knoxville for 32 years! If possible please try and give of your time in service, resources or love to this Knoxville gift.

The Greater Knoxville Business Journal's 40 under 40 Program

Chris Wilson’s “culture shock” during his first visit to Asia didn’t last long.

“From that point on, I just had a thirst for learning about different cultures and getting out and interacting and working with people from different countries,” he said. “I like to understand how they conduct business and take that knowledge and build a bridge back to Knoxville.”

His 17-year career at medical device manufacturer DeRoyal Industries Inc. has taken him to five continents, giving him plenty of opportunities to do just that.

“When I started in sales, my original territory was Asia,” he said. “I was a sales rep for Japan, China, Korea, Australia and New Zealand.”

He then promoted DeRoyal’s catalog of what is now roughly 25,000 health care products to hospitals in the Middle East, Africa and Europe while maintaining the South Pacific market.

Since 2011, Wilson has focused on the South Pacific and Canada as the director of sales for those regions.

Wilson first came to work for DeRoyal in 1999, answering phones in the company’s call center after leaving college. Soon after, his supervisor encouraged him to go back to school and get a degree - with DeRoyal’s help - so he could advance within the company into sales and marketing roles.

Wilson heeded the advice and earned an organizational management degree from Tusculum College by working 40-hour weeks and attending night classes.

“I liked having the ability to control my own destiny based on how hard I was willing to work,” he said.

Seven years and two promotions later, he went on to earn a master’s of business administration from the University of Tennessee.

“As far as I know, I’m the only person who ever started at customer service and ended up in sales management,” he said. “The company has really invested in me … and I love going out and spreading the story of how this company started with (founder) Pete (DeBusk) having an idea and making something in his garage and selling it out of the back of his car and making the American dream come true.”

It’s a story that not only resonated with Wilson personally, but with clients across the globe.

“Our business is about six times what it was when I got involved,” he said. “A lot of (that growth) has been because of educating my customer base on how I can help them sustain and develop their business.”

Stevie Hayes, the company’s operations manager for its international division, said Wilson, who has twice received the company’s President’s Club Award for being a top performing sales manager, is a team player who doesn’t forget that DeRoyal’s products improve the lives of the patients and doctors who use them.

“He’s always looking at how he can bring DeRoyal and any community closer,” Hayes said.